Ireland's Treaty City — King John's Castle on the Shannon, Thomond Park (spiritual home of Munster rugby), a food scene built on Clare Island salmon and Burren cheese, and the Viking city reborn
Limerick is Ireland's third-largest city, set on the River Shannon at the point where it narrows before spreading into the Shannon Estuary and the Atlantic. King John's Castle (1200), one of the best-preserved Norman fortresses in Ireland, dominates the King's Island bend in the Shannon. The Treaty of Limerick (1691), ending the Williamite War and guaranteeing rights to Irish Catholics, was signed here — its repudiation by the English Parliament began three centuries of Irish grievance. Thomond Park stadium is the spiritual home of Munster Rugby, one of the most passionate sporting cultures i…
Limerick's origins are Viking — the Norsemen established a settlement on King's Island in the Shannon around 812 CE, and it became one of their most important bases in Ireland. The native Irish king Brian Boru expelled the Vikings in 968 CE. The Anglo-Norman invasion brought the building of King John's Castle in 1200. Limerick was a prosperous medieval city and the third-largest in Ireland for centuries. The Siege of Limerick in 1690–91, part of the War of the Two Kings between William of Orange and James II, ended with the Treaty of Limerick — broken by the English Parliament shortly after,…